SAN DIEGO, CA – Five groups and four community leaders in San Diego County were awarded the 2016 EMIES, Unwasted Food Awards at the San Diego Food System Alliance 2nd Food Waste Solution Summit on Tuesday, September 27th 2016. The EMIES awards were created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, championed by Congressman Bill Emerson, to encourage donation of food and grocery products to non-profit organizations for distribution to individuals in need. Congressman Emerson died suddenly just before the bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996. The award aims to uphold his legacy of fighting food waste and hunger.

EMIES awards were selected based on exemplary practices around preventing waste, food donation, and composting/ recycling. Five groups recognized included barleymash, Culinart Group and Francis Parker School, SDSU Dining, Sharp HealthCare,San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. The EMIES awards also recognized four community leaderschampioning food waste issues at a regional level including San Diego CountySupervisor Ron Roberts andSupervisor Greg Cox for their food system initiatives, Supervisor Dave Roberts for zero waste initiatives, and City of Oceanside Deputy Mayor Chuck Lowery.Deputy Mayor Chuck Loweryhas recently championed the investment of $400k in a kitchen facility at a senior center in Oceanside to rescue and process food that would otherwise go to waste.

“We aim to retire the idea of waste from the dictionary when it comes to food,” says Richard Winker, Co-Chair of the San Diego Food System Alliance Food Recovery Working Group and chair of the EMIES awards committee.

“This is a timely opportunity to promote food establishments that are doing great work around food waste,” says Elly Brown, Director of San Diego Food System Alliance. “The state mandate on food and yard waste recycling (AB1826) rolled out this April. But innovations to keep the food from going into the green bin are important because we don't have the systems in place yet. We also can't forget that 1/7 individuals in San Diego County are food insecure and there's a lot of edible food being thrown out.”

From left to right: Ana Carvalho of City of San Diego, Elly Brown of San Diego Food System Alliance, Mayra Garcia and colleagues of San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, Renee Huslin of Sharp HealthCare, Paul Melchior of SDSU Dining, Mike Cain and Jose Santiago of Francis Parker School, Executive Chef Kevin Templeton of Barleymash, and Richard Winkler of San Diego Food System Alliance

About the San Diego Food System Alliance:http://www.sdfsa.org/The San Diego Food System Alliance is a coalition of organizations and individuals organized to affect positive change in the San Diego County's local food system. Our mission is to develop and maintain an equitable, healthy and sustainable food system for the benefit of all people in San Diego County.